Cellular shades have become a popular type of window covering in residential and commercial applications. These shades are aesthetically attractive and also provide improved insulation across a window or other type of opening due to their cellular construction. Cellular shades have assumed various forms, including a plurality of longitudinally extending tubes made of a flexible or semi-rigid material. The cellular shade is extended across an architectural opening, for example mounted at the top of a window or door frame, and the tubes cover the opening in the expanded state of the shade. The shade can be retracted or drawn into a contracted state wherein the tubes collapse into a stack. When viewed from the front (i.e., interior of a room) this stack may have an appearance similar to stacked slats of a Venetian blind. Typically, the width of the stack is half of the overall perimeter of the cell and projects from the glass side to the room side since the cords are normally disposed through the connecting point between each cell.
Reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 5,313,998; U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,440; U.S. Pat. No. 5,746,266; and US Pat. Pub. No. 2007/0074826 for various examples of expandable and contractable cellular shades.
The design emphasis in home and building structures has maintained pressure on the industry to create unique aesthetically attractive coverings for architectural openings which also have utilitarian functions, such as insulating the opening to minimize the loss of heat therethrough. Although the introduction of cellular shades has greatly benefited the industry in this regard, to some the appearance of conventional cellular shades in the fully deployed position is too angular with defining fold lines that are too close together. If the pleats are made larger, the contracted (i.e. raised) configuration is not aesthetically pleasing, because it is too wide and projects too far into the room. On the other hand Roman shades, particularly with shades having “soft” or billowing front faces are so commonplace that they are falling out of fashion. In addition, when more than one layer is used they stack inside of themselves which results in a deeper stack dimension (horizontal aspect) that must be accommodated for in the depth of the frame structure in which the shade is mounted, which can be problematic for a number of reasons.
The present invention provides a unique type of cellular shade with a Roman appearance that includes desired beneficial functional aspects and aesthetic features of both types of the conventional shades, yet provides an improved and aesthetically pleasing configuration in the fully contracted configuration of the shade. For example, in one embodiment, the shade product of the present disclosure can provide energy saving and/or light diffusion characteristics of cellular shades in combination with a novel and unique Roman-like appearance that includes a unique crease structure and method of stacking.